Naseeruddin Shah is back in Bengaluru with his shows

Falah Faisal | NT
Bengaluru:

Looking at the Ranga Shankara schedule for the month of July, one wouldn’t believe their eyes. The whole month is filled with shows by Naseeruddin Shah’s Motley Productions. To celebrate their 44th anniversary, they will be performing five plays for a week each in Bengaluru.

These plays include Manto, Ismat Haazir Hain!, Einstein, Aurat Aurat Aurat, and Kambakht Bilkul Aurat --all directed by Naseeruddin Shah and Dear Liar directed by Satyadev Dubey. The first of the plays to go up on stage is Manto, Ismat Haazir Hain! First performed in 2004, this play consists of the so-called obscene stories of Ismat Chughtai and Saadat Hasan Manto as well as Ismat's hilarious account of their trial, accompanied by a narrative commentary that questions the nature of "obscenity." But these aren’t adaptations, at least not exactly.

The performance is presented in the writer's own words. Naseeruddin Shah explains, “Bringing Indian stories onto the stage began with wanting to celebrate our great writers by reading out their works — that was the initial intention, but later we felt there’s no harm in using theatrical techniques to enhance the storytelling.

The storyteller is dressed in a way that evokes the period and class the story is set in, so we hope to transmit the feeling to the audience of not only having heard but also read and seen the stories.” The play stars Ratna Pathak Shah, Imaad Shah, Jairaj Patil, Sahil Vaid, Heeba Shah and Dhruv Kalra. It will run through Sunday. 

Manto, Ismat Haazir Hain!

Where: Ranga Shankara, JP Nagar
When: July 5-8, 7:30 July 9 and 10, 3:30 and 7:30
Tickets: bookmyshow.com